8:
“What happened?” Robin asked groggily.
“We got jumped. Or rather, Buffy got jumped. We tried to help her. Guess that’s how we ended up here,” Gunn said.
“Where’s here?”
“I think it’s an old abandoned warehouse,” Gunn said. “No clue where, though.”
“Have you tried to get loose?”
“Been there. Done that. Not gonna happen. How about you?”
Robin tested his own chains. “Not gonna give,” he said.
“Great,” Gunn said. “What do you think they’re gonna do to us?”
“I’d really rather not know.”
“Ditto.”
***
“Robin’s not answering his cell,” Faith said, frustrated.
“I’ll get started on a locator spell,” Willow said.
“Ok,” Buffy said. “Send Jennifer up here. I think I need to have a chat with her about the club.”
“I’ll get her,” Willow said.
“You sure you’re up to this?” Faith asked.
“Slayer healing abilities,” Buffy reminded her.
“Right,” Faith said.
Jennifer appeared in the doorway a few secons later.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Faith said. “Yell if you need anything,” she added to Buffy before she left.
“Sit down,” Buffy said to Jennifer, indicating the chair Faith had just vacated.
“I’m confused,” Jennifer admitted. “And possibly frightened.”
Buffy sat up and waited for her to go on.
“A lot of weird things have been going on at the club recently.”
“Like what?” Buffy asked.
“Well, girls have been calling in sick a couple days in a row, then when they come back they act like totally different people.”
“Has this happened very often?”
“Only a few times. But it’s happened to all the girls but me and April, well, Faith.”
“Interesting,” Buffy said.
“Like that girl Tracy that followed me out back last night. We grew up together. She was like te nicest girl I had ever met. We were best friends up until a couple weeks ago. She used to talk about how she wanted to be an actress and she was only stripping to pay her bills til she got her big break.” She paused. “Actually, most of the girls that worked there wanted to act. Even me,” she admitted, then sighed.
“”Ok, I’m just guessing here, but did she call in sick a couple days in a row, then come back all different?” Buffy asked.
Jennifer nodded. “She said she didn’t want to be an actress anymore. That she loved stripping and was gonna do it forever. She also started treating me differently.”
“I think I know what’s going on,” Buffy said. “Why don’t you tell me when this all started?”
“A couple weeks ago this couple came into the club. The reason I remember them is because it’s unusual for a couple to come in together. He was tall, with short and spikey bleached blond hair.”
Buffy inhaled deeply.
Jennifer went on. “She had long dark hair and wore one of those gowns from like the eighteen hundreds or whatever, with the tiny waist thing going on.”
Sounded just like Spike and Dru, Buffy thought sadly.
“Carlos, the owner, knew the guy from somewhere. He called him Dave. But the chick kept calling him crap like ‘Sam,’ ‘Sammy,’ and ‘Samantha.’ I think Carlos was afraid of her.:
“What makes you say that?”
Jennifer shrugged. “Just a vibe I got.”
“Did you catch her name?” Buffy asked.
Jennifer nodded. “The guy introduced her as ‘Dru.’”
“Drusilla,” Buffy said. “How often did they come into the club?”
“Almost every night. But she hasn’t been in the past few nights, though. At least I haven’t seen her. Not since you started coming in. He’s been in there though.”
“I think I saw him,” Buffy said. “He was one of the vamps that jumped me.”
“Oh,” Jennifer said. “This is all my fault, isn’t it? If I hadn’t come to you for help...”
“It’s not,” Buffy said. “I have a history with Drusilla. She would’ve found me eventually.”
“What kind of history?”
“You might say I stole her boyfriend,” Buffy said.
“Oh,” Jennifer said, still completely confused.
***
“I think I’ve found them,” Willow said. “I can’t get an exact location, but they appear to be in an old warehouse district on the edge of town.”
“I’ll call Angel,” Buffy said from the stairs.
“Should you be out of bed?” Dawn asked her sister.
“It takes a lot more than a little bump on the head to take a slayer out of the game,” Faith said.
Buffy hung up the phone a few minutes later. “There’s still almost an hour of daylight left. Angel told me to go no ahead and he’ll meet us there.”
***
Buffy, Faith, Xander, Willow, and Kennedy had already searched four of the seven warehouses by the time Angel, Wesley, and Fred showed up.
“We should split up,” Angel said. “We’ll cover more ground.”
“Good idea,” Buffy said. “Faith and I will take the one in the middle. Angel, Fred, and Wes, you take the one on the left, and Xander, Will, and Kennedy, you take the one on the right.”
***
“Did you try that door?” Kennedy asked.
“It’s locked,” Xander said.
“Not a problem.” Kennedy kicked the lock off the door.
Xander tried the door again. “Still won’t budge,” he said.
“Maybe it’s locked on the inside,” Kennedy guessed.
“No,” Willow said. “It’s locked by magic.”
“How can you tell?” Kennedy asked.
“I can feel it.”
“Can you open it?” Xander asked.
“I can try,” Willow replied.
“Try what?” Buffy asked, walking up behind them.
“Open door,” Xander said. “Locked magically.”
“Oh,” Buffy said.
“Where’s Faith?” Kennedy asked.
“We came up empty, so we split up. I came here and she headed for the other warehouse.”
***
“Well, looks like I’m at the right place,” Faith said, tackling the vampire that was overpowering Fred.
“Thanks,” Fred said after the vampire was dust.
“No problem,” Faith said. “What happened here?” As she surveyed the fight scene before her.
“Well, when we first walked in, Drusilla was here. She told her minions to kill us, and I think she slipped out the back door.”
“Figures,” Faith said.
“We should probably help the guys,” Fred said as she watched three vampires surround Angel.
“Right,” Faith said.
***
“It’s not working,” Willow said, obviously frustrated.
“Damn,” Buffy said. “Well, have you tried everything?”
“Not yet.” The witch smiled. “Stand back.”
Buffy, Kennedy, and Xander did as they were told.
Willow muttered a few words in a language Xander wasn’t familiar with and white magic flew from her fingertips at the door.
The door exploded.
“Wow,” Kennedy said in awe, once again amazed by how powerful her girlfriend was.
“Where’d you learn that?” Buffy asked.
“One of those books Angel sent over,” Willow told her. “They might not have helped us track down Cordy, but at least I was able to get something out of all those hours I spent researching.”
Buffy stepped through the doorway first.
“You can’t be in her!”
Kennedy reacted quickly when she saw the lightning bolt flying towards the other slayer and pushed her out of the way just in time.
“Thanks,” Buffy said, taking her first look around the room.
“I have sworn to protect the barer of the Devine One with my life!”
More lightning bolts flew through the air.
“Ok,” Buffy said, dodging another attack. “Who the hell is this Devine One and why would we have any interest in the one that bared it?”
Willow shrugged.
“How dare you speak her name with such profanity?”
“This is really getting annoying,” Buffy decided. “Can anyone see where that voice is coming from?”
“Too busy hiding to care,” Xander called from the other side of the room.
Willow stood up, quickly mumbled a few words in Latin and white magic once again flew from her fingertips in the general direction of the voice.
“I surrender,” the man said finally.
When the smoke cleared, Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Kennedy spotted the man on his knees twenty feet away from them.
He was dressed in a brown robe and looked like he hadn’t bathed in a while.
“I have failed you,” he cried. “I could not protect your mother.”
Ok,” Buffy said.
“Make it quick,” he said.
Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Kennedy exchanged confused glances.
“Make what quick?” Buffy asked.
“My... death?” It was more of a question than a statement.
Buffy scoffed.
“Nobody here is going to kill you,” Willow said. “We don’t even know who you are, or who this ‘Devine One’ is that you speak of.”
“Yeah,” Buffy agreed, “we’re just looking for our friends.”
“Really?” the man asked.
“Have you seen them? Couple black guys, late twenties, possibly early thirties?”
“No,” the man said. “You are the first people I have seen in a long time.”
“Oh,” Buffy said. “Then, sorry to disturb you.”
“That’s ok,” the man said. “But, you’re sure you don’t know who the Devine One is?”
Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Kennedy shook their heads.
“Maybe you know her under a different name. The Devourer?”
They shook their heads again.
“Jasmine?”
“Still not ringing any bells,” Buffy said. “Se you around.”
“Sorry about the door,” Willow said.
“That’s ok,” the man called after them, “thank you for not killing me!”
***
When Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Kennedy arrived about twenty minutes into the fight, there weren’t many vampires left.
“‘Bout time you showed up,” Faith said.
“Got held up. A little magic thing at the other warehouse. No big deal.”
With the eight of them working together, they quickly finished of the remaining half dozen vampires.
“Damn,” Angel said.
“What?” Buffy asked him.
“Dru got away.”
“I have a feeling we’ll be seeing her again,” Buffy said. “Probably soon.”
“I’ve got a feeling you’re right,” Angel said.
They found Gunn and Robin chained up in another room.
“It’s about time,” Robin said.
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